Basics of the Network Lab

Basics of the Network Lab

1.1 Resources used in the labs
Objective
To briefly introduce students with functions of resources used in the labs.
Workstations
The end systems that y ou use for the network labs are workstations. The la b
manuals assume the use of Windows XP. Some of the commands are specific to
the use o f the Windows XP /2000/NT and t hey do not apply t o other e arlier
systems like Windows 98.
Routers
A router is a network device that forwards network traffic along optimized paths.
Router uses networks protocols (set of network rules, and algorithms) to connect
different network segments. A router allows users in a network to share a single
connection to the Internet or a WAN.
A router can also b e viewed as a specialized comput er that is de signed t o
forward packets very efficiently. Like a computer, a typical router consists of the
following: CPU, Memory, System Bus, and network interfaces (Figure 1). These
components are described below.
(a) CPU The Central Proce ssing Unit performs the computation and logical
operations.
(b) Interfaces These are the ne twork connections through which packets
transverse the rout er. The con sole and auxiliary ports ar e examples o f
the router int erfaces. The console port is the asynchronous data port for
the direct terminal acce ss to the router. Remote router access can be
provided by a modem connection to the aux port. The aux port can also
be used for WAN connection.

CPU

FLASH

NVRAM

Bus
Interface

ROM

RAM

System Bus
Interface

Interface
Network
Controller

Network
Controller

Interface
Network
Controller

Figure1.HardwareComponentsofaRouter

(c) Memo ry Routers have four types of memory:

1) ROM (Read Only Memory) ROM contains power-on diagnostics,
the bootstrap program, and the operating system software loader.
2) RAM (Random Access Memory) RAM is for
storing routing
tables, the ARP cache, f ast-switching caches, and pa cket queuin g
and buff ering. This m emory provides temporary (or Running)
memory fo r the routers configurations while t he router i s po wered
on. When the router is powere d off, all the data in t
he RAM,
including t he runnin g configurat ion and routing tabl es, will be
cleared.
3) NV RAM (Nonvolatile RAM ) This is where
the routers
configurations are saved.
As this would suggest,
the NVRAM
content is retained when you power down or reboot the router.
4) Flash (Erasable, Programmable ROM) Flash memory holds the
operating s ystem imag e (IOS Software) and m acrocodes. Using
flash memor y allows you to update softwa re wi thout removing o r
replacing c hips on th e proc essor. Flash contents are re tained
when you power down or reboot the router.
Switches
Switches are link-layer devices that forward frames (link layer packets) based on
LAN de stination addr esses. Whe n a f rame c omes into a switch interface, t he

switch examines the link lay er destination address of t he frame and attempts to
forward it on the interface that leads to the destination.
A t ypical switch consists of all the hardware components that are explained
above for a router.

Cables
Three different types of cables will be used for the labs. They are straight-through
cable, console (rollover) cable and crossover cable. They differ from one another
as to how the component wires of t he cable are inserted into the pins of t he
adapters at the t wo ends of t he cable (see Figure 2). In the figure, the numbers
refer to pins in the adapters.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Straight-through cable

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Crossover cable

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Console (rollover) cable

Figure2.Typesofcables

1.2 PC Network TCP/IP Configuration

Objective
The purpo se o f this session is to gather n etwork inform ation (IP address , MAC
addressetc), learn to use the TCP/IP Pa cket Internet Groper (pi ng) command,
and learn to us e the Traceroute command from the workstation. You will also be
able to observe name resolution occurrences using DNS servers.
Introduction
An IP address is a uniq ue network lay er numbering sy stem that end sy stems
use in order to identif y and comm unicate with each other. It i s a dotted decimal
notation with f our numbers ranging from 0 t o 255 separat ed b y periods. The
numbers current ly used in I P a ddresses range from 1. 0.0.0 t o 255. 255. 255.
255, though some of these values are reserved for specific p urposes. The
decimals represent Octets of the bits in the binary representation of the IP
addresses. For example, 255 is equal to 28 and represents 11111111.
This does not provide enough possibilities for every Internet devi ce to have its
own permanent number. Subnet routing is one
of the met hods currently in
practice to allow LANs to use the same IP address as other networks elsewhere,
though both are connected to the Internet.
A Subnet (short for subnetwork) is a division of the network that is identified by a
subnet mask. A subnet mask is an IP address that is used to t ell how many bit s
in an Octet(s) identify the subnet and how many bit s provide room f or h ost
addresses. For example, the Subnet Mask 255. 255. 255.0 tells that the first 24
bits represent the subnet, while the rest 8 bits identify the hosts in the subnet.
A default g ateway is a no de on a computer netwo rk that serves a s an acce ss
device to a nother network. The default gateway addr ess is us ually (and applies
to this lab) an interface belonging to the LANs border router.
This lab is a non-de structive l ab and can be done on any mac hine with out
concern of changing the system configuration. It should b e perform ed in a
classroom (or other LAN environment) that connects to t he Internet so that t he
computer that you use has an IP address.
Packet Internet Grop er ( ping) command is u sed to provide a basic test of
whether a particular h ost i s ope rating prope rly and is reac hable o n the networ k
from the testing host. It provides estimates of round trip time and packet loss rate
between hosts.
The traceroute (tracert) traces all the rout ers that a net work layer pack et has to
pass through to get to a destination.

Preparation
A workstation connected to the internet is required.
Experiment
1. Verify the connectivity of your workstation to the internet.
2. Open the Com mand Prompt of the operating system using either of the
following methods:
Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt or
Click on Start > Run, enter cmd (short for command) and click on ok.
A Command Prompt screen should open.
3. Gather TCP/IP configuration information:
Type ipconfig (short for IP configuration) and press Enter.
The scr een will show the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway f or
your computers connection.
Notice the values in the Com mand Prompt. The IP address and t he def ault
gateway should be in the same network or subnet, otherwise this host would
not be abl e t o communicate outside the net work. In Fig. 3, the subnet mask
tells u s tha t the first three octets of the IP address an d the default gat eway
must be the same in order to be in the same network.

Figure 3. The TCP/IP configuration information of a workstation

4. Check more detailed TCP/IP configuration information:
Type ipconfig /al l a nd press Enter. What ar e t he DNS and DHCP se rver
addresses? Wha t are their functions? What is the MAC of the network
interface card?
5. Ping the IP address of a nother comput er. Note t hat for t he ping and tracert
commands to wo rk th e PC firewalls have to be disabled. Why d o y ou think
this is so?

Ask the IP address of the workstation that is being used by another group of
students. Then typ e ping, space, and the IP address t hat you received, then
press Enter. Notice the outputs.
Fig. 4 shows a successful result of a ping to a given IP address.

Figure 4. A successful result of a ping to a certain IP address

6. Ping t he IP address of t he gat eway router from the details that have bee n
observed in the output of step 4 above. If the ping is successful, it means that
there is a physical connectivity to the router on the local network and probably
the rest of the world.
7. Ping the Lo opback IP address of your computer. Type the following
command: ping 127.0.0.1.
The I P address 127.0.0.1 is reserved for loopback testing. If the ping is
successful, then TCP/IP is properly installed and functioning on this
computer.
8. You can also ping using names like websites. Ping the IP address of the cisco
website.
Type ping, space and www.cisco.com, then press Enter. Noti ce t he
outputs. A DNS server wil l resolve the name t o an IP address and the ping
will be successful only in the existence of the DNS server.
9. Ping www.ee.uct.ac.za and observe t he results. Is there a difference in t ime
between the results shown by pinging www.cisco.com and www.ee.uct.ac.za.
If so why and if not why?
10. Trace the route t o the Cisco website. Type tracert www.cisco.com and
press enter. In a successful output, y ou will s ee listings of all routers t he
tracert requests had to pass through to get to the destination.

Figure 5. A traceroute output

11. Trace t he rout e t o the websit e of t he Department o f Electrical Engineeri ng.
Type tracert www.ee.uct.ac.za and press enter. The output should take less
time than that of step 9.